Week Three

Week three has been absolutely incredible, exhausting, and exciting all at once! The week started out strong and was full of activities. On Monday, Sylvia and I were able to do script reads which were super helpful in making sure that our stories made sense and our dialogue felt natural. This was important because we would be filming later in the week and our scripts had to be finalized.

Tuesday night, I was able to take a break from editing my script and attended Cinefemme's Dinner with Dames event, which was educational and empowering. It was awesome to be surrounded by a group of intelligent women who are so passionate about filmmaking. It was also interesting to meet the special guest, George Rush, who is a entertainment lawyer and producer. His knowledge of all the technical parts of producing were very enlightening.

On Wednesday, Sylvia and I got to join in on a Script to Screen meeting to watch and discuss the movie Leave No Trace. Before watching the movie, I read the script and was so invested that I started crying when I finished reading it. After that reaction, I was eager to see the film and see how much it differed from the script and I was curious to see if I would like it as much. Turns out that I loved it and cried even harder at the end of the movie. I also really enjoyed the discussion afterwards and found it to be very beneficial as I discovered different interpretations of the movie, one's I had never thought about before.

Thursday rolled around before I knew it and it was finally time to shoot our films! Connie Jo, Sylvia, and I headed down to Fremont to meet with our actors and crew. It was an awesome day of shooting and I was so excited to see my story really come to life. All my actors, Chris (DP), and Colin (sound mixer) were really helpful in helping me achieve my vision. Sylvia also stepped in to do everything else, from helping set up props, to controlling slate, and recording all the data of the shoot, I would not have been nearly as organized without her!

After a long day, we woke up Friday morning and got prepped for an even longer one. Our schedule was jam packed as I had to get my final shots and Sylvia had to shoot her film as well. As in any production, we hit some setbacks and obstacles, but our cast and crew did an amazing job of working together. While Sylvia was directing, we switched roles and I became her PA for the day. I had a great time logging the shot and sound lists and I thought it was super useful to have that knowledge of how to do those things.

Wrapping up was bittersweet as Sylvia and I have been writing and editing our scripts nonstop for so long, but it was so satisfying to have finally filmed our stories. The shoot was also an incredible learning experience and I feel like I grew so much as a director and artist. I can't wait to begin editing the footage and really see my film unfold!